AUGUST 30, 2004 MOBILIZATION TO FOCUS ON ENDING
ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS IN NEW YORK AND OTHER MANDATORY
MINIMUM SENTENCES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES

NEW YORK, N.Y. – APRIL 22, 2004 – Today during a
lecture a Baruch College in Manhattan, Dr. Benjamin
Chavis, President/CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action
Network, announced the national mobilization for “The
March on New York,” slated for Monday, August 30,
2004, the first day of the Republican National
Convention (RNC). Russell Simmons, Chairman of the
Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, and Dr. Benjamin Chavis
have issued a call to youth leaders from throughout
the United States to organize busloads of youth to
travel to New York City to join tens of thousands who
will be gathered to exercise their First Amendment
rights on a wide range of issues including ending the
unfairness of the Rockefeller Drug Laws and other
mandatory minimum sentences, as well as support for
more funding for equal, high quality education in the
public school systems throughout the nation. Another
key aspect of the March on New York will be a
tremendous youth voter registration and education
rally as part of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network’s
“Hip-Hop Team Vote” initiative, which has already
encouraged voter registration of hundreds of thousands
of young people.

The site of “The March on New York” is being
negotiated by the New York Civil Liberties Union on
behalf of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network with the
New York City Police Department. The requested site is
7th Avenue between 24th and 34th Streets from 3-6pm.

Russell Simmons declared, “This will be the biggest
hip-hop gathering ever, and we intend for our voices
to be heard. We will not be silenced. The March on New
York is going down. It will be the illest march in
history.”

Dr. Benjamin Chavis emphasized, “The March on New York
is a march for freedom, justice and equality. We are
saying ‘no’ to Rockefeller Drug Laws and we are saying
‘yes’ to youth voter registration and mobilization, as
well as saying ‘yes’ to equal, high quality education
for in all public schools. We are saying ‘no’ to the
war in Iraq and ‘yes’ to a war on poverty and
ignorance in America. Hip-hop is about spitting truth
in the face of injustice.”